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Permits, home sales reach six-year high

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
02/26/2013 11:17:51 AM EST

BOSTON -- Single-family home sales in Massachusetts were up 10 percent in January, compared to January 2012, and hit their highest level since 2007, the Warren Group, which tracks real estate sales, announced on Tuesday morning. The Patrick administration reported separately Tuesday that multi-family housing unit permits pulled in 2012 were up 84 percent over 2011 and also hit their highest level since 2007.

In a statement, Warren Group CEO Timothy Warren Jr. called the January sales a "hopeful sign for a strong spring market" and said low mortgage rates and steady prices point to the potential for a second year of recovery in the residential housing market. Median home sale prices in Massachusetts rose for the fourth straight month, up nearly 7 percent over the year to $277,750 in January.

"Low inventory is slowly driving up prices. This should in turn give sellers more confidence to put their homes on the market," Warren said.

Last year 5,019 multi-family permits were pulled, up from 2,752 in 2011. Gov. Deval Patrick has set a statewide housing production goal of 10,000 multi-family units per year through 2020.

Citing the attractiveness of multi-family housing to young families and individuals, the Executive Office of Housing and Community Development noted that while total permits increased 44 percent between 2011 and 2012, based on the Census Bureau's Building Permit Survey, the proportion of multi-family permits increased from 38 percent of total permits pulled in 2001 to 48 percent in 2012.

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State officials said a significant number of multi-unit housing permits were pulled in Boston, Natick, Cambridge, Saugus, Concord and Lakeville.

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